We Made It
by thisdayandage
Summary: What if The Doctor succeeded in rescuing Astrid Peth? Alternate ending to The Voyage of the Damned. Dedicated to my pal, Sean, the biggest Kylie Minogue fan I know. This story was made into a home-made book, as a gift for him, because he's buggering of to the U.K.
1. Promise

**[A/N: For Sean; ****The people of England will be forever perplexed how such a rare whale, native to New Zealand waters had come to be beached on the coast of the North Sea.]**

"We made it", breathed Alonzo, with a relieved chuckle, while still clutching the wound on his abdomen. There he sat on the Titanic's floor, alongside the tuxedoed, wild haired man, who'd saved the passengers' lives.  
>The Doctor's big brown eyes were wide and staring off into the distance.<p>

"Not all of us", he reminded the crewman. The Time Lord was touching his tongue to the roof of his mouth. A mannerism he had taken to doing when deep in thought.

All of a sudden The Doctor's eyes grew even wider with realization. "Teleport!" he screamed. In no time at all he was on his feet and racing towards the door to unlatch it. "She was wearing a teleport bracelet."

He quickly, but gleefully explained to the man on the floor, before disappearing through the door. Alonzo struggled himself upwards only as fast as his injury would let him and followed this suddenly hopeful man.

The Doctor burst into the room at a mad pace.  
>"Brixton, sonic!" he cried, arm outstretched, then caught the screwdriver in both hands. Rushing straight over to the teleport system, he asked, "Mr. Copper, the teleports. Have they got emergency setting?"<p>

"I don't know", said Mr. Copper, who seemed confused. "They should have."

"She fell. Mr. Copper, she _fell! _What's the emergency code?", spat out The Doctor in his haste, frantically breathing through his teeth.

"Oh", replied Mr. Copper, realizing. "Let me see." The old man began activating the system's functions. Alonzo had wandered into the room where the three men were.

"Come on. What the hell are you doing?" he squealed.

"We can bring her back!" yelled The Doctor, who was crouching down and already forcing his way into the system, manually.

Now, Mr Copper, the man who'd pretended for so long that he knew what he was doing. Now, this fraud knew he was the man to step in and be able to explain exactly what was going on to in front of the two dishevelled passengers and one crew member. "If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport.."

Meanwhile, The Doctor was still fumbling with the jumble of wiring, stopping to sonic, and then placing the tool between his teeth for safe keeping, between sonicings.

".. Their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis. So, if we can just trigger the shift!"

"THERE!" boomed The Doctor, smacking down a lever and standing upright.

Ever so slowly, a mass of pale blue light appeared in the air. This light grew larger and began to form a shape. It was the shape of a woman in a waitress' uniform.

The molecules of Astrid Peth were emerging into existence before the men's very eyes. The light became clearer and more solid, taking on a different colour.

Finally, there she was, in her black boots, black dress with the white trim, warm honey-toned skin and blonde curls. Her eyes sparkled and her lips pursed into the loveliest of smiles.

"Doctor", she said.

The strong arms of The Doctor embraced the woman into the warmest of hugs and told her, "I promised I'd get you out of here." His grin was almost too large for his boyish face.


	2. Adventure Calls

The centre of the room boasted a peculiar mechanism. Round in shape, it was covered in all sorts of switches, knobs and levers. These features made up the ship's controls console.

A great column towered up from it and to the celling, where enormous vine-like cables hung from. Metal grating covered the floor and rimmed the room's edges.

The hexagonal shapes with circles in the middle that dotted the walls, combined with the several sculptural spires that encircled the room were reminiscent of the sort of coral one would find in an ocean.

The system's mechanical core pumped up and down, forming a deep pulsating, rumbling sound that must have been the ship's engines, yet it was almost like the ship was breathing. Almost as if the ship was _alive_.

However, what was most astounding to Astrid was that she could've sworn she had just stepped into a small wooden blue box. Yes, this Time King from Gallibee or whoever he was had called the object a ship, but nothing could have prepared her for what truly lay inside.

Spinning on the spot, she looked back at the door. With her double check, she noted that yes it was regular sized, rectangular, wooden and held an item that could only be some sort of antique communications device.

Yes, she was standing in a police telephone box. Yes, it was a spaceship. And yes, it was most definitely bigger on the inside.

Her personal rescuer strolled over to the console. He leaned his tall thin body across it, appearing to be setting in co-ordinates of some kind.

"This is my TARDIS. That's T-A-R-D-I-S. Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he loudly announced. His fitted tux arched with his body and the undone black tie drooped from his neck, grazing a control panel. Co-ordinates set, The Doctor looked up with an intense and focussing gaze at Astrid. "What do you think so far?"

"I think-", began Astrid, slightly at a loss for words. "It's certainly impressive", she then sufficed, moving to join The Doctor at the console.

"Oh, my dear. You ain't seen nothing quite just as impressive yet!" exclaimed The Doctor with a wink. He then proceeded to pump a large handle up and down. "Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto, the woman, who looked at the stars and dreamt of travelling. You are about to experience your wildest dreams."

He then spun a lever round and into a downward position and the room jolted and shook so incredibly violently that Astrid gripped The Doctor's arm and let out a joyous scream of delight, while he in turn laughed excitedly.

Not that anyone was around to hear it, amongst the whistling of mountain wind. A crying, squealing whooshing sound began, then slowed down in pace. Eventually the noise faltered, perfectly in-time with the appearance of a blue, 1950's police box, which drifted through the air, just above the mountains.

The door opened with a creak and two figures stood in the doorway, a man and a woman. The Doctor had ferociously spiked hair, jutting out at all possible angles, purple shirt, black necktie, and a suit, which matched the wooden box in colour, topped by a long brown coat and wore a pair of red converse on his feet.

Astrid Peth was much shorter, but what she lacked in height, she undoubtedly made up with stunning beauty and sunny disposition. The young woman wore a fluffy white duffel coat that boasted an even fluffier collar and bottom trim, dark jeans, high heeled black boots and a pair of square lensed dark sunglasses.

The Doctor looked on affectionately as Astrid lifted up her shades a little and her eyes widened, taking in the extraordinary surroundings.

"It's breath-taking", she described.

"The Kiwis call these mountains _The Remarkables_", stated The Doctor.

"I can see why," replied, the still wide-eyed, Astrid.

Stretching before them stood rows and rows of rocky, snow-capped mountains. A brilliant blue sky stretched around them and down below, was the city of Queenstown with its clear, sparkling lake, which was lined with trees of green and rimmed with sand of white.

"This is Earth's New Zealand - told you it was beautiful."

"You told me right", nodded Astrid.

"I'll take us down lower," suggested The Doctor. Leaving his new companion standing in the doorway, he resumed his place at the controls.

The TARDIS was now twirling over the lake and Astrid was enjoying every bit of it, when all of a sudden, a group of screams could be heard. Astrid's head darted in the direction of which the noise came from. Expecting danger, she was pleasantly surprised to see a boat zooming across the lake's surface and watched as it rapidly changed directions splashing water up from the lake to great heights.

"Wow!" she cried in awe.

The Doctor explained that Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and that jet-boating was but one of the major attractions.

Astounded at this, Astrid took no time at all in convincing The Doctor to land the TARDIS within the city, so they could explore the rest of it.


	3. Nothing to Lose

The all too eager Astrid ran through the street, awing at various things.

"Shops and concrete!" she exclaimed to The Doctor, who nodded back at her.

"Shops and concrete," he repeated, smiling.

The travellers walked through the busy street together, not noticing the flyers attached to nearby lampposts, reporting missing persons. Astrid spotted an information centre and tugged The Doctor inside.

A bell rang as they went through the door and a woman greeted them, from behind the information desk. She looked middle aged and wore a woollen cardigan and name badge, which read 'Rita'.

Immediately Astrid was pulling out various pamphlets, advertising different thrill-seeking attractions and thrusting them into The Doctor's hands. He put them in his pockets, which seemed to have unlimited room.

The woman behind the information desk laughed at Astrid's enthusiasm and mused,  
>"Sounds like you want to try everything."<p>

"Oh yes please!" Astrid declared. "Only I have no idea which thing to do first".

"Well if you're up for something new, a mystery attraction has just opened. I've sent a few people up to have a go, but nobody has come back with any feedback for me, as of yet", the woman explained. "Perhaps you two would like to give it a try?"

"Oh I'm always up for a bit of mystery", announced The Doctor, grinning broadly.

After receiving directions from Rita, thanking her and promising to come back and tell her what they thought of it, they left and headed for the destination.

The directions lead them up into the mountains. Neither of them minded the walk. It was nice to be in each other's company, enjoying the fresh air and scenery, which the place had to offer.

The Doctor had been travelling in solitude, ever since Martha's departure and had become lonely again. Sure, travelling without a companion had its merits. He could get up to whatever he pleased, without having to worry about his companion wandering off. Eventually however, such adventures began to lack lustre and he ended up talking to himself. It was companionship he truly craved.

This was something that he especially realized, when he met people like Astrid, someone who longed to escape, like himself and see the universe for what it had to offer. Still, he was old. He had seen the universe forward and back by now. Yet, it still managed to hold surprises for him, but it wasn't enough until he could see the new born delight in another person's eyes, from it all.

Yes, it felt incredibly good to have someone with him again. He only hoped that this time it would last. Oh sure, he was proud of Martha, for choosing to leave, but that did not mean he didn't miss her a whole damn lot.

He would have to be a lot more careful though. Martha and her family went through a lot of unnecessary hardship, during that long year that never really happened. His tendency to get himself and others into trouble was something he tried best to avoid, but in the end, it seemed to find him.

Astrid was a capable young lady. He knew she would not need his protection. What she needed was a holiday after what she went through on the Titanic. He owed her that at least. How long she would be sticking around depended entirely on her, he decided.

Astrid laughed delightedly at the different plants they passed, on their walk. It was unlike anything she had seen on Sto. For a start, most of them were green in colour. This humoured her incredibly.

The Doctor explained to her that most Earth plants contained chlorophyll, which made the plants green in order for them to absorb sunlight during photosynthesis. However, she wasn't really listened to his scientific ramble. But it was fun to see his face light up with excitement and his hands gesturing about, with manic energy.

Astrid figured by now that he really loved hearing the sound of his own voice.

Once arrived at the place, they found themselves standing outside a cave with a big sign, reading;

'_Mystery waits. Enter if you dare!_'

The Doctor was beaming. He stuck out a hand, wiggling his fingers as invitation to Astrid, who accepted and they walked through the mouth of the cave together.

"Welcome strangers!" a piercing voice called from around them. "Walk forward to receive your thrill."

Astrid and The Doctor did as they were told, still holding hands and walking further into the shadows.

Astrid's nose wrinkled. The place smelt musty.

The scent was unlike the stink of pollution on the London streets, which was a lot more subdued in New Zealand she found. There was no pollution in this cave, but there was definitely a lot of moisture.

The Doctor had noticed too, but the source was unknown to him. The ground felt dry enough, underneath his the soles of his trainers. Wondering if there was some sort of natural spring inside the cave, he was quickly caught off guard, as the two of them lost their footing.

Both Astrid Peth and The Doctor were sent screaming, as they fell down a dark pit. They were falling for quite a while. Astrid screamed delightedly at the sensation, but The Doctor's look grew stern. He knew something wasn't right.

After fishing for his sonic screwdriver in his pocket, he pointed and buzzed at the area around them.  
>Then they were suspended in mid-air.<p>

"Oh this is marvellous!" cried Astird. "What's going to happen next?"

"Astrid, something is wrong here. This sort of thing isn't supposed to happen." The Doctor explained, before being cut off by a pained sound from Astrid as her eyes closed and she went still.

"Astrid? Astrid, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked, panicking.

"_Interesting,_" returned the same piercing voice from earlier. "_The male is not susceptible to our mental absorption_."

"What have you done to her?" shouted The Doctor "And who are you?"

"_We are of the Prevliac system_."

"Prevliac", The Doctor repeated to himself, the mental cogs whirring away in his mind. "But you lot are space tourists - visiting other worlds for leisure. What kind of business do you have in the brains of humans? "

"_Indeed, we came here for the purpose of leisure. However we found something within the native species to our upmost pleasure and have taken up residency, to harvest it_."

"Harvesting what? Explain yourselves!"

But it was then that The Doctor then caught on. "Oh.. of course. What else would you getting from human minds in a place like this? Adrenaline," he winced as he felt Astrid's hand become even limper in his. "Stop it. Stop what you are doing to her, right now. There's more than way to get adrenaline, don't you know? "

There was a paused silence. As if the captors were considering what The Doctor had to say. Then sure enough, they answered,

"_Tell us_."

"Release her first. Release us and I'll _show_ you."


	4. I Run to the Future and Jump

The Prevliac space tourists were tall, bulbous, slimy creatures. They were only humanoid in the aspect that they possessed two arms and two legs. Their limbs were more like tubes than anything, with funnels for appendages. Where there head should have been, there was but another even larger funnel. As far as Astrid could make out, they didn't possess a face of any kind.

Although she was accustomed to meeting different aliens, she had never come across such a species. Many of the races she met, as a waitress aboard the Titanic had indeed been of humanoid nature. Finding she had been held captive by something quite different, but was sentient and able to communicate was frightening to her.

The Doctor explained to her that they communicated through mental projection and telepathy. Although they did in fact have some vision, they mostly relied on other more adapted senses, which were based on chemical output and the funnels were their way of receiving telepathic waves, as well channelling any chemicals in their environment. They thrived on experiencing different chemicals and travelled to experience as many different sorts that they could.

Usually they were harmless, but occasionally they could stumble upon certain chemicals which were just a little too addictive and could cause problems with the locals. In this case it was adrenaline. It was something completely new to them.

What they didn't realise was, that they were perfectly capable of producing this chemical themselves. Their bodies were such an extravagant cocktail and many different elements that given the correct opportunity, their body would automatically create adrenaline in their systems.

"And what opportunity would that be?" asked Astrid, as The Doctor rummaged through a TARDIS storage compartment, situated beneath grated floor panels.

"A little something invented by the locals", and he pulled out a long cable, winding it around the base of the time rotor, he gesturing for her to stay where she was. He then strolled out of the TARDIS, the cable dragging behind him.

Several Prevliacion space tourists had been left waiting at the mouth of their cave. Dropping the cable in a heap onto the ground in front of him, The Doctor spoke,

"Adrenaline awaits. Come forward if you dare," pushing his head back, he raised his arms in invitation.

One of the smaller Prevliacions made its way forward.

"Ah, my first volunteer!" indicated The Doctor. He wrapped the cord around the creature's funnel shaped feet, while the other Prevliacions watched on nervously.

With a gentle hand, The Doctor guided the young Prevliacion just into the doorway of his ship. He advised it to stand where it was, then hopped over to the console. "Going up!" he cried and spun a lever.

The TARDIS whooshed upwards into the air. The Prevliacion was shaking and gripping onto the door frame. "Jump!" he yelled, practically bouncing himself with excitement.

The creature was petrified. Astrid could tell. She could feel the fear and distrust wash over her, projected from the alien, no doubt.

"Oh alright then," said Astrid, out of nowhere. She reached back into the storage compartment and grabbed another length of stretch cable. Mirroring what she had seen The Doctor previously, she wound it around the central column. Standing as close as she could to the Doctor, so that their bodies were just about pushed up against one other, she bent down. The Time Lord looked at her, perplexed. Astrid wound the cable around both their feet.

The Doctor had no choice but to follow, as Astrid hobbled to the edge of the TARDIS, as they were now very tightly strapped together. Wrapping her arms around The Doctor, Astrid bounced on the balls of her feet and sprung them both from the TARDIS.

Together they fell down and down. Their screams echoed through the mountains. The Prevliacions watched on in horror. It was only a matter of time, before the cable ran out and it lost all its slack. Both Time Lord of Gallifrey and citizen of Sto yelled gleefully as they bounced back up again, then down, then up, suspended from the bungee cord.

Another scream became prominent. It was not their scream however and it was not even out loud. It was in their mind. A flash of green whizzed past them. The young Prevliac was bungee jumping, adrenaline coursing through its system.

Not before long, every Prevliacion was having a turn. The Doctor had plenty of stretch cable in his TARDIS and offered it to the creatures.

"You may take this back to your home and share it, on the condition that you never harvest from the people of Earth again. It's their magnificent minds that came up with something this brilliant and I will not have them tampered with."

He stood tall, his dark eyes blazing with fury. None of the Prevliacions were about to argue with them and were very eager to take the gift and depart.

From out of the cave came an enormous beast, even bigger and slimier than the Prevliac tourists themselves. It could only be described as a large centipede, as along its base were hundreds of funnel like feet which brushed across the ground as it slowly moved.

The space tourists hopped on to it back and the beast rose up into the air. Musty smelling air rushing from its funnels, it soared away into the sky. Even in the distance, Astrid could see one of the aliens bouncing off the back of the beast, attached to a bungee cord and let out a delighted giggle. Turning to The Doctor, she wrapped an arm around his.

"Where to now?" he asked her.

"What did you say your ship was called again, Doctor?"

"The TARDIS" he answered, steering her towards it.

"_Time_ And Relative Dimension In Space?" she checked, as they got inside and he began setting co-ordinates.

"Yes, very good," he complemented her, smiling admirably.

"Alright then, Let's take a _Step Back In Time_."

THE END

**[A/N: Have a fantastic life in England. I am very excited for you. You are an amazing pal and I will miss you lots and lots. ****Xox ****Your Meerkat]**


End file.
